All Reviews articles – Page 208
-
ArticleBartók: String Quartets nos.1–6
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Belcea QuartetComposer: BartókThe Belcea Quartet has established itself as one of the finest ensembles of its generation. Even so, it is still a young group, founded not much over ten years ago, and these Bartók works constitute one of the most formidable ...
-
ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77. Joachim: Violin Concerto no.2 in D minor op.11 ‘In the Hungarian Style’
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Christian Tetzlaff (violin) Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard (conductor)Composer: Brahms, JoachimThe continuing rehabilitation of Joachim’s ‘Hungarian’ Concerto is to be welcomed, and the work that Brahms partially based on it is the obvious coupling. Rachel Barton Pine has already ...
-
ArticleRhapsody. Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor op.19, Vocalise op.34, Variation no.18 from Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. Prokofiev: Cello Sonata in C major op.119
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Gautier Capuçon (cello) Gabriela Montero (piano)Composer: Rachmaninoff, ProkofievThere’s nothing ground-breaking about this CD featuring heavily recorded repertoire. Excelling, as they do, is therefore all the more impressive. Gabriela Montero already has an enviable reputation as an improviser on the piano, but in ...
-
ArticleFitzenhagen: Cello Concerto no.2 in A minor op.4, Elegie op.21, Capriccio op.40, Serenade op.35, Gavotte op.42, Impromptu op.43, Ave Maria op.41, Dämonenfantasie op.34
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Jens Peter Maintz (cello) Paul Rivinius (piano) Munich Radio Orchestra, Peter Rundel (conductor)Composer: Fitzenhagen Coming from an established tradition of virtuoso player–composers, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen joins the likes of Popper, Klengel and Davidov in generating cello-oriented repertoire. His chief notoriety, however, comes from ...
-
ArticleDvorák: Piano Trios in B flat major op.21 and in G minor op.26. Suk: Elegy op.23
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Florestan TrioComposer: Dvorák, Suk Dvo?rák’s first two trios are in good hands here. The Florestan Trio has always had the happy knack of both capturing character in an instant and bringing coherence to extended structures. These performances are ...
-
ArticleBacri: String Quartets nos.3–6
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Psophos QuartetComposer: Bacri Born in France in 1961, Nicolas Bacri has plowed a lone furrow that has assiduously avoided allegiance to any current group of composers. Moving easily between tonality and atonality, the music is undoubtedly of ...
-
ArticleElgar: Piano Quintet in A minor op.84. Walton: Piano Quartet in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterComposer: Elgar, Walton It is all too easy to fall deeply in love with the Elgar Piano Quintet, and this is certainly the case with the chamber group based at New York’s Lincoln ...
-
ArticleCapriccioso: Under the Blue Skies. Works by Saint-Saëns, Paganini, Alyabiev, Arensky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Tchaikovsky & Bach (arr. Gounod)
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Alexander Rudin (cello) Jana Ivanilova (soprano) Vladimir Skanavi (piano) Victor Ginsburg (piano) Musica Viva OrchestraComposer: Saint-Saëns, Paganini, Alyabiev, Arensky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Tchaikovsky & Bach (arr. Gounod)If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Alexander Rudin has a phenomenal technique and has chosen works that ...
-
ArticleBéton Armé. Xenakis: Euryali, Mikka, Mikka S, Keren, Ikhoor, Dikthas
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Bas Wiegers (violin) Gus Kramers (viola) Saartje van Camp (cello) Nora Mulder (piano) Koen Kaptijn (trombone) Composer: XenakisThis short disc of Xenakis promises more than it delivers. Go to the listed website for the promised ‘detailed programme notes’ ...
-
ArticleOpera Fantasies for Violin. Works by Hubay, Raff, Stravinsky/Dushkin, Golijov, Weill/Frenkel, Prutsman, Paganini, Bizet/Loeb & Lalo/Szigeti
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Livia Sohn (violin) Geoff Nuttall (violin/viola) Benjamin Loeb (piano)Composer: Hubay, Raff, Stravinsky/Dushkin, Golijov, Weill/Frenkel, Prutsman, Paganini, Bizet/Loeb & Lalo/SzigetiLivia Sohn, a former graduate of the Juilliard School and pupil of the legendary Felix Galimir, possesses a remarkably lithe and transparent tone of ...
-
ArticleSilvestrov: Post-Scriptum, Epitaph (L.B.), Drama
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Cornelius Dufallo (violin) Yves Dharamraj (cello) Jenny Lin (piano)Composer: SilvestrovWhere else would a postscript and an epitaph precede a drama? So strongly individual and oddly touching is the music of Valentin Silvestrov (b.1937) that the reversal works. A Ukrainian, he is another ...
-
ArticlePintscher: en sourdine*, tenebrae† , Reflections on Narcissus‡
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin)* Christoph Desjardins (viola)† Truls Mørk (cello)‡ Ensemble Intercontemporain† , NDR Symphony Orchestra*‡, Matthias Pintscher (conductor)Composer: Pintscher ‘Muted’; ‘Shadows’; ‘Reflections’: if you were buying paint, they would be shades of grey, and as I remarked ...
-
ArticleBrahms: Cello Sonatas no.1 in E minor & no.2 in F major. Schumann: Fünf Stücke in Volkston
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Clive Greensmith (cello) Boris Berman (piano) Composer: Brahms, SchumannAs cellist of the Tokyo Quartet Clive Greensmith brings real chamber-music qualities to the Brahms sonatas, with the cello by turns prominent and the next moment falling away to ...
-
ArticleGarth: Six Concertos for the Violoncello op.1
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Richard Tunnicliffe (cello) Avison Ensemble, Pavlo Besnosiuk (director)Composer: Garth The talented English organist, composer and entrepreneur John Garth (1721–1810) was based largely in Durham. His six cello concertos op.1 were published in 1760 and are transitional works in ...
-
ArticleL. Berkeley: String Quartets nos.1–3
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Maggini Quartet Composer: L. BerkeleyI’ve been a fan of violinist Lorraine McAslan since she first burst upon the scene with a stunning 1989 account of the Britten concerto for the now defunct Collins Classics label (reissued on Naxos 8.557198), so it was ...
-
ArticleViola incognita. Milhaud: Viola Sonata no.1 op.240. Hindemith: Viola Sonata in F major op.11 no.4. Winkler: Viola Sonata op.10
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Pavel Ciprys (viola) Daniel Wiesner (piano)Composer: Milhaud, Hindemith, Winkler I am not sure which ‘unknown’ elements the title of this CD refers to. The viola itself? Hardly. The repertoire? Two of the three works are among the best known ...
-
ArticleBach: Brandenburg Concertos nos.1–6
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: European Brandenburg Ensemble, Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord/director)Composer: BachIf you haven’t heard of the European Brandenburg Ensemble before, that’s because this is its first recording, and hopefully not the last. Trevor Pinnock has gathered around him some of the finest of Europe’s ...
-
ArticleBax: String Quartet no.1 in G major. Elgar: String Quartet in E minor op.83
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: PavÁo QuartetComposer: Bax, Elgar The last couple of decades have witnessed a remarkable general increase in quartet playing standards, yet the downside has been a corresponding tendency towards greater musical objectivism. What a relief, then, to discover ...
-
ArticleViola-Trios. Just: Trio in E flat major op.13 no.4. Holzer: Trio in C major op.7. no.3. Glinka: Trio pathétique in D minor. Berger: Trio in G minor op.94
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Vidor Nagy (viola) Peter Wolf (cello) Carmen Piazzini (piano)Composer: Just, Holzer, Glinka, Berger If, like me, you thought that trios for viola, cello and piano must be really thin on the ground, maybe we should revise that opinion. ...
-
ArticleComposers in the Loft. Lorenz: Bachangó*. Pann: Differences† . Jalbert: Piano Trio. Garrop: String Quartet no.2 ‘Demons and Angels’‡. Fung: Miniatures for clarinet and string quartet¶
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: David Ying (cello)† John Bruce Yeh (clarinet)¶ Marta Aznavoorian (piano)* Elinor Freer (piano)† Lincoln Trio, Blava Quartet‡, Maia Quartet¶Composer: Lorenz, Pann, Jalbert, Garrop, FungIt took only a few seconds of Ricardo Lorenz’s Bachangó for piano – Debussy meets Bartók, Piazzolla ...
